East Canton’s Duke Taylor fits the name and the game

Posted by Patrick Hyland on Monday, July 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the sixth in a 20-part series entitled, “The SportsInk.com Top 100 of 2011,” a look at who we believe are the best 100 high school football players in the SportsInk coverage area of Summit, Portage and Medina counties (plus East Canton) heading into this season. The series, which will run daily Monday-Friday through July 29 (excluding July 4), will focus on five players each day. There will be a feature story on one of the players, followed by short biographical sketches on each of the other players. The players have been selected in no particular order. 

EAST CANTON, Ohio – Maybe no one in the area has a better football name – or, more importantly, a more fitting name – than East Canton’s best player.

That’s senior right guard/strong-side inside linebacker Duke Taylor.

Duke Taylor?

OK, fourth-year Hornets coach Steve Miller, Duke’s a nice nickname – really cool, almost like a hero straight out of a World War II era comic strip, right next to Joe Palooka, Flash Gordon and the rest — but what is his given name?

“It’s Duke. His real name is Duke Taylor,” Miller said.

Really?

Yes, really. It can’t be anything but Duke. Read on.

His father played for Canton McKinley.

“You know, I don’t know his first name,” Miller said. “I just call him Mr. Taylor. He’s a very big man.”

His sister was a basketball player for Massillon.

“We were very happy to keep Duke home at East Canton,” Miller said.

Indeed, no program can afford to lose players like him.

He plays along the line on offense and in the middle of the front seven on defense, so he mans two of the positions that a kid named Duke Taylor should be playing.

He has the size that a kid named Duke Taylor should have, standing 6 feet and 225 pounds, which is good size at any level of high school football but especially so in the state’s classification for the smallest schools enrollment-wise, Division VI. The Hornets are back there after spending the last couple of years in Division V.

He has the resume that a kid named Duke Taylor should have. He will end up being a four-year letterman and a three-year starter for the Hornets. He was a second-team All-Portage Trail Conference County Division last season and an honorable mention Division V All-Inland District selection. He’s being moved to linebacker from defensive line “to take advantage of his athleticism, and his ability to run to the ball,” Miller said.  

And he has something else – the most important thing of all — that a kid named Duke Taylor should have.

Actually it’s a bunch of something elses – heart, determination, outer and inner strength, and toughness.

Strength.“He’s the strongest guy on our team,” Miller said. “His bench-press is pushing 350. He’s a real competitor in the weight room. He’s a self-made man in that respect.”

Toughness. “I’ve been a head coach for 15 years, and he is one of the toughest kids I’ve ever had,” said Miller, who coached at Alliance Marlington and Malvern, just south of East Canton, before he took over the Hornets in 2008 and promptly guided them to the Division VI playoffs.

“You try not to have too many kids playing both ways, but for the ones who do, you limit them in that you take away a little bit of what you’re asking them to do on one side of the ball. You turn them into 1½ guys.

“But not Duke. He’s not only a complete two-way guy – he never leaves the field on offense and defense – but he’s a three-way guy because we use him on special teams as well. You put him on kickoff coverage, for instance, and he goes right down there and makes the tackle.”

Heart. “In our summer sprints, he wins them all,” Miller said. “It’s not because he’s the fastest guy. It’s because he gives that much effort to win. And he runs the last sprint as hard as he runs the first one.”

Determination. “He works all the time,” Miller said. “I was up at the stadium yesterday (Sunday) doing some work, and he was up there working out.”

On a steamy-hot weekend afternoon when most kids were making a beeline for the beach or the pool.

Did we also mention that as good as Taylor is in football, he’s even better in track. He was the state runner-up in the discus in Division III this spring, and he is expected to compete for a state title in both the discus and shot put next season.

“Colleges are interested in Duke as a combination football player/ track guy,” Miller said. “Track is probably more in his future, but he also loves football.”

And Miller loves having him.

“I just can’t say enough about him,” the coach said. “When you put together the depth chart on our team, you look at him first.”

Why wouldn’t you look at him first? After all, his name is Duke Taylor, and he is a Duke Taylor.

Four more who stand out:

*Justin Bergh, Revere, running back/defensive back, 5-11, 165, senior  – A second-team All-Suburban League selection and an honorable mention Division II All-Inland district choice, he’s a productive two-way player who also stars on the baseball field

*Jarrod Wilson, Buchtel, safety, 6-2, 190, senior – He has all the physical tools to be a very good player in college, which he announced recently will be Michigan, the alma mater of his coach, Ricky Powers.

*Zack Reichert, Archbishop Hoban, kicker/wide receiver, 6-3, 170, senior – He kicks, averaging 37 yards a punt last season to make honorable mention Division III All-Inland District, and he gets a kick out of volleyball, being one of the Knights’ better players as well there, too.

*Tre Jones, Twinsburg, cornerback, 5-9, 170, senior – Talented and fast – he’s a sprinter in track – he has the ability to blanket any receiver, as evidenced by his being selected honorable mention Division I All-Inland District last fall after making four interceptions, breaking up four passes and making 46 tackles.

 

View the rest of the Top 100 Series:

  • Top 100 Football — Part 1: Dillon Headrick (Coventry), Kyle Finch (Green), John Barton (Twinsburg), Ross Martin (Walsh Jesuit), Alex Roebken (Mogadore) 
  • Top 100 Football — Part 2: Steven Vinson (Kenmore), Greg McMullen (Hoban), Anthony Gotto (Tallmadge), Quaison Osborne (Hudson), Shakeel Howard (Kent Roosevelt)
  • Top 100 Football — Part 3:  Alex Todd (Streetsboro), Matt Perry (St. Vincent-St. Mary), Lou Gigliotti (Copley), Seamus McDonald (Medina), Aaron Male (Ellet)
  •  Top 100 Football — Part 4:  Dillon Matthews (Springfield), Nathan Rosenberger (CVCA), Robby Buckwald (Cloverleaf), Ryan Predovic (Nordonia), Drew Gardner (Cuyahoga Falls)
  • Top 100 Football — Part 5: Jack Snowball (Wadsworth), Kevin Enright (Walsh Jesuit), D.J. Jones (Ravenna), Tony Matteo (Manchester), Darren McGinnis (Firestone)

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